Where I've lived, that's a rich potential source of entries, yes, but since moving to this house in summer 2014, I've almost never posted about it.

I don't really have to.

Luckily, the people I live with and I all have mutual respect for each other, and for our boundaries. As most of you who've had roommates know, THAT DOESN'T ALWAYS HAPPEN. And it didn't happen when I previously lived with other people, from January 2001 to August 2002. I rented a basement bedroom in a house near SE 50th and Hawthorne (also near the now knocked-down Sewickly's), and from four to five other people shared the house. Annoyingly, over those 20 months I lived there, I first realized I can't trust the other guy who lives in the basement; he doesn't respect my boundaries. (I don't know if I've even referred to that guy by name in my blog; I did, years later, refer to him as "A.") Like I said, it was annoying, but I adapted. Then, in Month 19 (July 2002), that number went up by two: another resident did something that made me see that he hadn't respected my boundaries, either.

My mind quoted both Eddie Murphy and Jordan Peele: "GET, OUT."

Six weeks after I confronted Fellow Resident # 2 about what he'd done, I moved into the Brooklyn neighborhood apartment I lived in, by myself, for the next 12 years. Studio apartment. Enough space for me and no one else. There were issues involving other residents in the building, but over time that drama lessened to almost nothing, especially after the building changed owners from a management agency to a family. (Back when the agency was running it, one resident pissed off someone so much that that someone attacked the resident's Ford Bronco. Nothing comparable happened after!)

All that was pre-blog; I started mine two years later. I've always found stuff to blog about (I hope it's interesting enough!), but when I moved in here I gave myself this guideline: Only blog about house-related stuff with the other residents' permission. And every time a potential house-related topic has come up, I decided No, I don't need to blog about that, so I don't need to ask.

It's one way I respect the boundaries and needs of the others who live here. It's a relief that we all do. And a relief that I don't feel a need to process anything about living here, the way I've needed to process how the residents of the house near Hawthorne didn't respect me or my boundaries.